kathymartinez Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 I love SID, but it's driving my revenue down to below minimum wage! I don't have many customers who are willing to pay over 3 cents/square inch. How do you approach this when doing customs? Maybe I'm just too fixed on the SID look. Kathy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SherryRogers Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Hi Kathy I may not be much help because I am such a huge fan of sid. Your rates are not out of line with mine for average sid. Perhaps you just need to practice other ways of achieving it. I always use a matching thread or a good blender or even invisable thread. I have a very comfortable ruler and I just belly up to the bar and become one with my seams. And remember my trick, crank the stitch length all the way up to get a smoother flow! Another way to get your customers to respect your work is to show them what you can achieve and how you can enhance their quilt with your talent. Once they see your abilities they will remember you when they are willing to spend a little more on the quilting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandraC Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Oh Sherry, I envy you....SID is definitely not my strong point. How ironic since I just logged on here with a quilt top that I\'m kind of stumped on and I\'m wondering if SID is the answer. I find the top is kind of busy so I plan on stippling the background to make the design pop more...then I wondered if it would help to SID the design as well, or would the stippling be sufficient? I also had planned on appliqueing a vine in and out of the checkerboard border and into the larger parts of the background, but now my daughter is saying that it would be too much. I guess I wonder if the applique would be worth it, as well. BTW, I wish I could give credit for the pattern to the proper person, but I snipped a little photo out of a magazine a while back but didn\'t take note of the particulars. I had been given this fabric as a thank-you and was waiting for the right quilt to come along. It is Pat Sloan fabric, which I love, but is very hard to find in my neighbourhood. Please, anyone, any comments would be appreciated!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Sandra, that quilt top is stunning! I really like it a lot. I would definitely SID around the corner stars. Also, maybe do something fun with the larger HSTs in the corners (create some sort of quilting design in and around them to rival the big stars on the opposing corners, so they don\'t fade into the background?) Anyway, I am not really very experienced with quilting, so I might be way out in left field here, but I see a big meandering peacock feather going around the inside areas between the stars, the large HSTs in the opposite corners and the center colored areas where the narrow tan diagonal strips are, you could do the HST feather motif? In the larger open areas, uou also could perhaps do the peacock feathers in a contrasting color, like a light or medium blue, and then do a denser background filler around the peacock feathers in the tans/beiges that is similar to the background fabrics so it isn\'t too busy and the piecing is still accentuated. That would make the feathers pop, not overtake the entire top... just thinking out loud here... LOL! Please share the finished quilt when done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Speaking of SID...... I have a question and/or dilemna that I would appreciate some feedback from you experienced longarmers... This is about piecing... then about quilting later... OK, so I just started quilting, but I have been piecing my tops for several years. I was taught that in order to ensure that my "points" on my HSTs were nice and sharp and laying flat, that I would turn the seam so I can see the intersection of the threads. That means that I would press so my seam allowance would "twist" to the opposite direction and twists in the middle of the piece so I can see both intersections of the seam allowance as I am piecing. OK, all fine and dandy but, that creates a little "bump" in the middle of the piece after I press it. And, it makes the seam go the opposite direction, now, so if you were to SID during quilting, you would have to switch sides with your topstitching needle to quilt in the ditch. So, herein lies the dillemna: Do I flip to ensure I have nice flat and sharp points, or do I not flip my seams when piecing to avoid the "bump" in the seam allowance for easier managing of SID quilting later on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandraC Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Wow, Shana, I\'m overwhelmed with your ideas!!! I\'ve got some thinkin\' to do, for sure....I really like the idea of the feathers surrounded by denser filler. Are you sure you weren\'t a motivational speaker in a previous life??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 No, I wasn\'t a motivational speaker in previous life, but I do think that in a previous life I must have lived in the southern states because I LUVS THAT SUTHUN COOKIN\'! mmMMMM mMMmm!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnCavanaugh Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Hi Shana, From a judge\'s perspective, you\'d be expected to switch sides on that seam, and stitch on the side of the seam where the seam allowances are not. A judge who is looking at the piecing as well as the quilting would prefer a seam that was untwisted in the center. From the piecing perspective, it might mean pressing toward the light occasionally if the patches are not aligning properly, and using lots of pins to achieve the terrific points you want. I personally prefer to have an entire seam pressed in one direction rather than flipping it half way along the seam, simply because it is much easier to SID that way. Your choice will be influenced by your quilting design, and whether the seam allowance "shadows through" any light areas. Be sure to use a fine thread for piecing, and a scant quarter-inch seam allowance to allow for that "fold-over" that pressing the seam creates. If the fabric has a thicker hand such as a homespun or some Hoffman fabrics, that scant seam is even more important to getting points to come out. Whatever you choose--it\'s your quilt, so do what makes you happiest with the quilt when your done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Thanks, Dawn! I really appreciate your time providing thoughts and advice. Lucky me (and everyone else here) who get to have people like Dawn Cavanaugh to be at our beckon call! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtreusch Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Hey Shana. Have you ever heard of Quilt University? You can take dozens of online classes there. I took one several years ago to learn how to press a quilt properly as you are piecing it. The class was called Press for Success. Since then, I always get comments on how well press and flat my quilts are. In the class, you learn to always start out with a pressing plan so that seams butt against each other for nice sharp points and so that you don\'t get that twisted seam in the middle. This is something I always do now. If it\'s a complicated block, I will even create a practice block so that I know which way to press every seam and use it as a guide for piecing the actual quilt blocks. Along with this, the best trick I learned was how to press blocks such as pinwheels and mariner\'s compass where a lot of seams come together in the middle. So simple, but it makes a huge difference in the block and you don\'t have that bulk in the middle where all the seams come together. Email me of send me a U2U if you want more information. Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Thanks, Debbi! I will send U a U2U... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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